True religion will not let us fall asleep in the comfort of our freedom.

Love thy neighbor is not a piece of advice it’s a command.

And that means in the global village that we’re going to have to start loving a whole lot more people, that’s what that means… his truth is marching on…

…because where you live should not decide whether you live or whether you die.

And to those in the church who still stand in judgement on the AIDS emergency, let me climb into the pulpit for just one moment, because whatever thoughts we have about God or who he is or whether He even exists, most will agree that God has a special place for the poor.

The poor are where God lives.

God is in the slums in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house.

God is where the opportunity is lost where lives are shattered.

God is with the mother who has infected the child that will take both of their lives.

God is under the rubble and the cries we hear during war time.

God, my friends, is with the poor and god is with us if we are with them.

This is not a burden this is an adventure and don’t let anyone tell you that it cannot be done.

We can be the generation that ends extreme poverty.

a house,

a fenced in back yard,

a two car garage,

cable television with a DVR,

two cars for that garage,

and a job that pays me well but makes me work 50+ hours a week?

You get a person who has just lost all they had going for them:

Community and relationships.

Sure. They had nothing.

But you’ve just replaced nothing with nothing.

That’s not much of an improvement if you ask me.

Mobs do things that individuals would never do on their own.

Individuals in mobs do things that that don’t make much rational sense.

Individuals in mobs climb live electric poles and flip taxis.

Individuals in mobs also live well beyond their means.

Individuals in mobs work super long hours to provide for their way of life, but in doing so have no time for their kids.

Individuals in mobs believe that if they aren’t personally effected by a situation the pain of others doesn’t actually matter.

Individuals in mobs have their schedules decided by television shows rather than the rhythms of prayer, caring for others and community.

Individuals in mobs think that they will have more time to care for others when they get the next raise or when their kids get out of the house.

I don’t know about you.

But I live in a mob.

No, it’s not very violent.

It’s not like I’m flipping cars or anything.

But it is flipping lives.

It’s flipping my life.

And, honestly I’ve pretty much bought what it is selling.

And I’m done…

At least I want to be.

But, I’m not going to leave.

Nope. I’m staying put.

I want to start a new mob.

One that imagines a new way of life.

A mob that prioritizes community…Or at least is trying to figure it out.

A mob that radically cares for their neighbor. Or, at least knows their names.

A mob that spends itself on behalf of the poor… Instead of spending ourselves on consumer goods.

I want to start a new mob that looks deeply at its way of life and filters everything through our call to be witnesses of a different King and a different Kingdom.

A mob that keeps pulling me back, giving me grace and smacking me across the head when I start putting my feet too far into the other mob.?

Mobs don’t form by invitation.

Mobs don’t send out e-vites and event announcements on Facebook.

Mobs form because there is something worth forming about.

Mobs form because someone just won a World Series for the first time in 35 years.

Mobs also form because Someone said that the Kingdom of God is like a treasure buried in a field…

I’m convinced it is little ideas that change the world.

I’m convinced people who are sick and tired of playing by other people’s rules change the world.

However, I’m convinced that I can’t change the world.

I’m convinced that you can’t change the world.

Not alone at least.

I am convinced that if we do this together we have a chance.

I am convinced that you and I can live differently than we’ve been told we’re supposed to.

In order to do that its going to take reworking some assumptions that we’ve carried our entire lives.

I invite you, walk with me as we seek to re-imagine our lives as residents of a new mob….

Standing near the recently fallen slave tree in Ndola, Zambia

Just outside Ndola is a tree known as “The Slave Tree.” This stood or hundred years and it was called this because it was a key location on the slave trading route in Africa.

About a year or so ago, George and a few other churches felt the sense that this tree symbolized an attitude of servanthood (not the good kind) and inferiority in the people of their city.  Since this tree was the symbol for this they drove out to the tree and spent some time praying that God would release the yolk of slavery that still hung in the air in Ndola. 

Three or four weeks later this mighty tree fell and from what they could tell, there were no storms or high winds to cause it.  

George was quick to point out that there was no sure way to connect their prayer and the tree falling. But this tree had been standing for all these years and has now fallen shortly after their prayers (its not like they even prayed for it to fall).  Whether there was a direct connection or not, it served as a powerful illustration of the in-breaking kingdom of God.  I pray that this tree falling truly is symbolic of the yolk of slavery being broken, not only in Zambia but all throughout Africa and our world.

I’m here with Tom Ward of East Point Community Church in Deleware and George Palo of Harvest City Church in Ndola, Zambia. We’re meeting with some guys from our network, Ecclesia and we’ll be talking about more details regarding the partnership between George’s network of churches and our network.

We had a great conversation on the way down about the current way of connecting churches in America and Africa and some of the challenges this approach brings. Basically, the approaches that George has experienced in the past don’t have a significant enough commitment. We spoke a bit about the concept of covenant, courtship and marriage between African and American churches. It was a fascinating discussion that hopefully someday I’ll be able to unpack as we discuss it more.

I went to Zambia earlier this summer and it was a great perspective giving trip in terms of seeing the differences and similarities in our culture and African culture (Read more about that here as it really made me ask some serious questions about our way of life here in America).

Hopefully in the next 6-8 hours we’ll have made some good progress in working out some details for a meaningful and significant future partnership or Ecclesia, Harvest City and The Well.

Oh, you can listen to George’s sermon at The Well on Sunday here…

Thought #1 – The culture in Zambia is beautiful and they get worship, prayer and community better than we ever have. Its part of their DNA. It’s beautiful really. I can’t wait to go back next summer if the Lord wills.

Thought #2 – While the church in Zambia is thriving, it has some massive challenges. The leaders and congregations are still in the midst of emerging from colonialism (under the British Empire). The Brits left only 40 years ago. This is causing the church to deal with rediscovering what it means to do and be the  church for themselves and break out of the mold, forms and structures that the Western missionaries gave them. It was a beautiful experience to be able to work through some of these issues with the leaders there. I believe that what is emerging and will emerge is a beautiful picture of what God has intended for His Church.

Thought #3 – While the church and the culture is beautiful, its clear that the way of life isn’t working very well in a material point of view. The roads are bad, AIDS is revenging the country and when 70% of a city lives below the poverty line… there are problems. Big ones. And that’s just the beginning. For example, the following stats aren’t specific to Zambia but they are reflective of sub-Saharan Africa:

Twenty five thousand children die every day from hunger and malnutrition. Ninety-one million children under five years old are severely malnourished. Two hundred sixty-five million have never been immunized. Three hundred sixty-six million lack access to clean water. Over fourteen million children have lost either or both parents to AIDS.

Big Realization #1 – The answer for the Zambian people and their African friends is not to find a way for each person to own single family dwellings in suburbia where they can have cable television, DVRs, xboxes, drive two cars and have 2.5 kids. Doing this would destroy the things that they currently have going for them.   Something struck me right between the eyes when I realized that if this true (and i think it is) then why do we constantly pursue this very thing?

Big Realization #2 – While we have roads, AIDS is fairly controlled, and relative affluence, our culture doesn’t work either. We just pretend that it does. Check out some of these stats from Tom Sine’s new book The New Conspirators:

• Americans now owe $750 billion in revolving credit card debt. That is six times what it was two decades ago.
• From 1989 to 2001, credit card debt carried by poor families increased 149 percent.
• Between 1983 and 2003, U.S. bankruptcy filings increased 500 percent.
• U.S. mortgage foreclosure rate has escalated 500 percent since the early 1970’s.
• Incredibly, while debt is soaring, one of the most rapidly growing industries in America is the $17 billion storage industry. Apparently we need more space to store all those consumer delights that we don’t really need and can’t really afford.

Here’s the deal.

Most of us would not argue that we should be living out Isaiah 58 – that we must spend ourselves on behalf of the poor, the hungry, the oppressed or our worship means nothing (if you don’t agree with me just read the passage) – but we just can’t because we live lives that feed into the stats above. Sure, we want to care for others, especailly the poor, but we’re living lives that are just not able to “fit that in.”

To use a Seinfeld-ism, I believe that I / we have been “double dipping.” We want to be living in the world that runs by the rules of the Kingdom and we’ve even got a foot in there. But, we’ve also got a foot in the world of the American Dream that tells us that happiness, pleasure, satisfaction, security and comfort comes from having stuff. Sure, we’ve dipped into the Kingdom. But then we’ve dipped again into the American Dream.  And we keep on dipping.

It’s kind of like we’re part of a mob.

Mobs are an interesting phenomenon because with a mob you will have all these people doing something that they normally wouldn’t do if they were acting as individuals.  I’m becoming convinced that the suburban world is a different kind of mob. It’s not outwardly violent. We’re not flipping over cars or anything. But it is subversively violent. So subversive that we don’t even realize it till it’s too late.

You see, most of us know that the best way of life is a life that gives and serves and follows after the way of Jesus. But, we’re in this mob that keeps calling us to another way of life and we just keep on giving in because that’s what we’ve always done and everyone else is doing it.

Its time to get out of the mob.

Or, since Melanie and I still feel very called to live the Kingdom in suburbia, its at least time to live alternatively with others in the midst of the mob…

So here’s the deal: if we really do want to give ourselves to those less fortunate and actually live for something greater than ourselves, but our way of life doesn’t let us, we must change our way of life.

That’s where Melanie and I are at this moment. Despite her not being with me in Zambia, God’s done some major work on her heart as well and we’re both on the same page.  We have to change our way of life.

Our sense of purpose demands it.  The future of our kids demands it.  The poor around us demand it. The gospel demands it.

So, whats going to be different?

We’re still figuring that out.  I’ve been trying to leave behind the temptation to change the whole world with the return from a missions trip.  I’m not throwing out all my non-christian CD’s or anything.

But we’re beginning with two little, mustard-seed type things:

First thing we are doing is letting the wind blow through our finances and seeing what’s left. We praying we can find a way to trim about $500 – $800 off our monthly budget so that we can life more freely. This is a bit radical of a goal and it mgiht take awhle to get there, but we’d like to be able to save our own money for Zambia each year rather than having to raise the support every time. We’d like to do this so that we can work less and give more. So, nothing in our budget is sacred really. It’s probably not a sell all you have and give it to the poor kind of thing at the moment, because I believe it would be hard to stay in suburbia and pull that off. But, it is a total reorientation and reevaluation of all the we own and all that we will purchase in the future. Again, nothing is sacred.

Second thing we are doing is we’re inviting the friends who are from our area / church over to our house each Sunday night for prayer and community. The goal will be simple: we’ll pray, repent and invite God to help us reshape our lives and imagine a new way forward so we are better equipped to respond when He calls. This will basically be a small group, but it will be focused around finding ways to live sustainably and generously so that have our feet firmly in the kingdom rather than the American dream.  Honestly, we aren’t at a loss for opportunities to serve the poor in our midst, our struggle now is living lives that give us freedom to do this.

We’ve got some work to do…

Or, I should say, the Spirit has some work to do.

If you want to join us, we’ll see you at 6:00pm at our apartment in Warminster.

I think there is an amazing future ahead of us… I’m excited.  And scared to death…

You’ll have to be in church tomorrow to get my more complete reflections (or listen online when i post it) but here are some major themes/thoughts:

Community
Sunday night was awesome as we sat around the fire sharing stories with the men from Harvest City Church after studying the scriptures together, taking communion and praying for one another.  They told some awesome stories about the community and life in the bush. From my perspective I look at life in the bush as such a sad experience, they spoke about it with such joy and life.  Its funny how we equate material possessions with happiness.

Scriptures
The scriptures are the only reason we could speak into such a wholly different culture.  They are the orienting story / narrative for both our cultures and because of them we could speak.  If for some reason I didn’t hold the scriptures in high enough regard before this trip, I made some major strides in this.

The Patient Urgency of Mission
This piggy backs off of my sermon three weeks ago about having patience in the midst of an urgent mission and the little things are important.  This week was an exercise in this.  We go there wanting to change the world and ended up talking about confessional relationships and why its hard for them to practice this scripture.  We has some intense conversations around this issue and turned out to be exactly what they needed.  So, we didn’t change the world in one fell swoop, but God did use us to help the Church there to be a little bit stronger.  This is a great, great lesson in the work of the Spirit and our role in it.

Joy in Poverty
Its interesting that all the kids and people that we met were so full of joy.  They were, in some cases, in desperate poverty. The stories are endless and we didn’t even see the half of it.  But, they are happy in the mist of their pain.  There is joy there.  And, in most cases, this comes from the presence of God in their lives.  Compare that with our culture and you have so many people who have so much yet our lives are not any happier (and in some cases we are not happy at all) and we’re the most depressed country on the planet.

Both Cultures are Broken.
This falls off the last point.  The fact is, both of our cultures are broken. Theirs is broken in some very obvious ways: Unbelievable poverty. AIDS is ravening the country. The worst roads ever. Sub-par Infrastructure.  Almost non-existent social services.  Our culture is broken too but in different ways. The last point makes helps here.  Reflecting on Gary’s sermon at The Well from two weeks ago we see how mob mentality takes over.  In a mob, you have people doing things that they would never do individually.  This is our life in suburbia is it not?  It’s clear that our way of life doesn’t work!  Yet, we keep on living it.  Time to clean house.

Future Visits Ahead
One of the questions going into this trip was how future visits would work out.  Its clear (at least so far) that God is calling us back to continue to partner with the Church there.  Pastor George set this trip up for us as a “first of many” kind of trip. Basically, instead of working with the same people each day we had more of a tour of the church in Zambia.  We met with about 6 different groups of pastors in a number of different cities.  We were with pastors who were working/living in the city and pastors who were working/living in the slums.  We visited the “bush” and visited the city.  There are a ton of ways for us to have a long term partnership with the churches there.  I’m looking forward to seeing how Ecclesia and The Well can take part in this partnership.

Worship.
This won’t be a suprise but the worship/singing/prayer there was unreal.  It came straight from the gut where I am not sure where ours comes from.  We were late to one meeting and the group had started singing already.  As we approached the room it sounded like we were about to walk into a room with 200+ people.  Turns out, it was about 35 young people all under the age of 18.  They worship God and they know they need him.  They are desperate for him.  And it shows.  It’s funny, often people claim they don’t believe in God because there are too many people who are poor in the world.  Yet, the poor that I met in Zambia had no trouble trusting in him, worshiping him and crying out to him.  Hmm….

Bungee Jumping
Yeah, that’s right. 111 meters and about 4 seconds of free fall.  Was totally nuts and I can’t believe I did it.  Here’s the YouTube Video:

Final Final Thoughts…

All in all, an amazing trip.

The plane flights were long.

About 35+ hours of being in planes.

I did get to watch nine movies so that was nice. I’m exhausted.

But, its the best exhausted I can imagine.

Missed my family like nuts.

I’m more than happy to be with them again.

Lastly this song from Charlie Peacock about sums up my reflections and reactions to the trip.  Spend the 99 cents on it.  You have to hear the whole song to understand it.  Personally, I think its genius really.

Last night Tom and I spoke at the leadership team meeting for George’s church, Harvest City Church.  There were about 40 people there.  Some were pastors and some were lay leaders.  We spoke on the topic of leadership and creativity.  As I wrote in my last blog post there is a challenge of having creativity as they seek to be witnesses to Jesus here in Zambia.  This is mostly because the western missionaries brought with them a “correct” way of doing ministry that the Zambian church learned as sacred ways of doing things.  But, as the culture has changed and new crisis have emerged there has been a need to engage the city and the culture in fresh ways. Pastors like George recognize this and have been seeking to begin these conversations with fellow ministers in hopes that there can be a spark in the imagination of the Christians here.  This is not unlike the changes that are taking place in our culture.  The issues are very different, but the idea is the same.  Here the issues are specific to poverty and AIDS (among other things).  So, Tom introduced the topic and I did my best to layout a way to begin thinking creativity.  Here’s basically how my talk went. We start with the call to be witnesses.  That’s always the starting point. From there we seek to recognize the strengths and gifts that God has given to our particular community/church.  As we understand those strengths and the gifts that God has graciously given us, we can begin to take a good look at the needs of our culture.  Here, the main idea is listening.  Listening to the culture and its needs in a way that shows humility.  The Zambian (along with the rest of Africa) church has been the recipient of the opposite of this.  They can witness to the problems that emerge when people come to share the love of Jesus without listening first.  This has been discussed openly as one of the biggest struggles of Western missionaries for the last 100+ years.  Even for these pastors and leaders, I wanted to help them realize that they should not commit the sins of my / our fathers but to carefully listen to the needs that surround them in the culture.  From there, once we have understood God’s gifting in us, and understand the needs of the culture, we can begin looking at how we can respond.  My point was that if we go through this general process, we can respond as creatively as possible in very contextual ways.  We can do ministry and share hope in ways that are specific to a particular time and place.  I told them that it would be too bad if they did ministry exactly the way that I do it in Philadelphia and that it would be a shame if I did it exactly the same way that they do it here in Zambia. Sure, there will be some similarities. Things like worshipping together, learning together, studying the scriptures, being in relationships, helping the poor, fighting for injustice; yes they would all be the same. But, how these worked out should be and must be contextual to the gifts God has given to us and the needs around us.

Today we spoke at a men’s breakfast.  I actually didn’t talk at this one as Tom and Greg did.  But, the conversation was very, very interesting.   We had a very lengthly discussion about confession to one another.  This might seem like a fairly remedial thing to talk about but it was a very provocative discussion.  This culture is very open and friendly but it is also very private and closed when it comes to personal matters.  There are a number of challenges when it comes to issues of trust in one another.  I started our meeting at 10:00am and had to cut the conversation off at 1:45pm.  One of the most amazing things was how deep these men and women were willing to go into this topic.  They truly accomplished a lot and made some very amazing revelations about why they don’t listen well to the scriptures on this issue. Tom and I were thinking that if we had this discussion in America it might last an hour at best (this is an indictment of me along with the rest of us!).  But, they addressed the issue in such depth and with such passion.  The process itself was an inspiring as the topic.   What was also fascinating was that while the reasons for not engaging in confession together were a little different it was clear that we struggle with this in the states just as much.

There is a huge respect for the person of “pastor” here.  It is both inspiring and scary. Its clear that when I, Tom, Greg or George get up to speak they are listening to every word and waiting to hear from God.  I really appreciate this respect for the minister here.  At the same time, its almost not fair to them or to us.  There is such a gap between the lay person and the pastor that the pastor feels too much pressure to be perfect and to be savior while the lay person can feel too helpless.  This comes into play as the pastors model a life of confession.  They can’t confess and let their guard down because they are scared that the people won’t respect them anymore. This is a deeply cultural issue that won’t be overcome overnight.  George and I were talking about this a bit and he’s been trying to slowly pull that issue back a bit.  One of the ways I think that can be done is by elevating the importance of the laity while keeping the minister as a person who deserves respect.  It is such a different culture that we have created at The Well and many of our churches. I started to say something about this in the small group I was a part of us but it became clear that this is not something that will change right away and would take many conversations and even many years to unfold a new way.  This is why its so essential to be working with George.  He can speak so much more powerfully to his own people on issues of addressing cultural norms that hurt witness.

I am learning that its so much easier to see the cultural baggage of another culture than it is your own.  We have just as much if not more do we not? Seeing it is the hard part.

Last night we went to the all night prayer service.  It was actually crazier than I expected.  Basically its a once a month gathering of many of the churches in Endola and the surrounding areas.  The organizers invite all the different pastors to speak. This includes Anglican, Full Gospel, Baptist, Independent Baptist, George and all kinds of denominations.  Last night was the health and wealth crew for the time that we were there.  While we were very out of our element and there were things that are out of my theological paradigm, it was good to be there.  If nothing else, the prayers of the people were so passionate and sincere.  My prayer life is put to shame by theirs.  They are so desperate for God in ways that I can’t even understand.  Another beautiful image was that while George preaches against the health and wealth gospel in his city, and even calls it one of the most dangerous things of the church, he was there to bring the other side and to show unity in the body of Christ.  It is clear that, though the woman speaking up front was coming from that viewpoint, George views here as a sister in the faith.  And, because of that, I was able to see her as a sister in the faith as well.  For George and for her, theology is important and they fight over it all the time.  But, unity is also held as a huge priority.  They are aware that if the church here does not have unity, it is in trouble.  The problems are too great for one to accomplish alone.

Alright.  That’s all I have to say for now.

Ubuntu…

So, I am going to brain dump as much as a I can here:

• I jumped off a bridge at Victoria Falls with a rubber band attached to my ankles. Pictures are on my flickr account.  It was nuts. Video will be coming home with me.  Google: Victoria Falls Bungee Jump and you’ll see what I did.
• We started this trip with two days of downtime with a trip to Victoria Falls (google this, it makes Niagara falls look like a kitchen sink faucet) .  This was kind of backwards as most missions trips I have been on put the “rest” at the end of the trip.  I’ve got to be honest, I love it this way.  We were toast after that long plane ride that trying to imagine speaking the next day was way beyond what i could comprehend.  This has also allowed us to have some good conversations with George about his church and African culture.  I feel much more prepared to speak contextually (not much, but more than i was!).
• One of the greatest needs in the Zambian church is creativity and imagination in leadership.  George said that since the country was under the rule of the English for so long, they are used to being told what to do and how to do it. Leadership is not their biggest strength, following is.  And, the church was almost always led by white men from the west who taught them the “correct” ways to do church.  Now, that the church is becoming more Zambian, and the leadership native to this country, there is a struggle to break out of the mold in terms of church structure and ministries in ways that are more specific to the culture, the culture’s needs and the church’s strengths.  So, tonight (Friday) we’ll be visiting with the leadership at George’s church (about 30 men and women) and we’ll be talking about the mission of the church and trying to give them a framework to help them think creatively and use their imagination in terms of their mission.  Tom will be talking about the creative God that we serve and I’ll do my best to give them some ways to think this way.  I love this conversation and am excited to engage in it with George’s leadership team.
• Tonight (again, Friday) we’ll be joining an all night prayer meeting of pastors and leaders from the area about an hour.  They start at 11pm and go till 6am and they do this once a month.  George said its a pretty wild experience and I guess we’re supposed to share a few words or something.  That should be interesting.
• Saturday morning we’ll be at a men’s prayer breakfast.  There are supposed to be a couple hundred men there.  The other two pastors on my trip will be speaking so I’ll be watching for this one, at least speaking wise.  I am sure I’ll find some great conversations during the morning.
• Saturday afternoon and evening are up in the air.  I am not sure what we’ll be doing. I am sure it will be great though. Last I heard there would be some sleeping in tents or something.
• Sunday morning is a big moment.  The local christian television station has been bugging George to let them come and videotape his services so they can air it on the local TBN (yes, that TBN).  He worked it out so they would come this week, when Tom and I are preaching. Yikes!  Apparently, this will be broadcast 8 times in Zambia and then it will be broadcast all over sub-saharan Africa a number of times too.  George is really excited because he’s hoping that we can bring a little redemption to western white preachers (he said this slightly as a joke and was also very serious as well).  I’ll be preaching my “go to” sermon on Moses and the image of God.
• TBN also called yesterday and asked if George would bring us to the studio to do a live(!) interview / conversation with us around the ideas of church planting and leadership.  Of course he said yes, so on Tuesday night we’ll be sitting in the studio with George talking about those topics on live television.   Of course, this will be broadcast in Zambia and also then again all over the continent later.  No, that’s not intimidating at all. Talk slow Todd, Talk slow…
• Sunday night we’ll be meeting with another group of local pastors.  Not sure what the topic is yet but that’s fairly normal.
• Monday will be a leadership conference (I think).  We’ll be speaking on topics related to leadership.  Specifically, I’m not too sure what about.  That’s the fun of this trip, you’ve gotta be ready to speak at a moments notice.  So, I’ve been thinking through about 5 talks that I can hopefully give on a moments notice.  I’ll probably be talking around the issues of the image of God and mission, Acts 7 and sharing leadership, a look at the whole gospel (from Scot McKnight), and a few others topics i have brianstormed a bit.   Good thing i believe in the working of the Holy Spirit!
• Tuesday, again. No clue but I know it involves speaking to pastors and lay leaders.
• Wednesday.  Speaking twice to pastors and lay leaders.  Again, not a clue what I’ll be asked to speak about.
• Thursday – Friday.  Flying back home with an overnight in London.

Okay, that’s all the time I got.  I have to hit save before my time runs out.  Hopefully I’ll get another chance to update in the next few days but that’s not guaranteed.

After we met up with Pastor George, we grabbed some breakfast and then quickly took a much needed five hour nap.  So, the first day here (Tuesday) was pretty much a bust.  We were supposed to start speaking on Wednesday (today) but the pastor who was our contact at the conference today was stuck in South Africa and was unable to get back in time. So, we changed around our itinerary and we are doing the down time, sightseeing that we were going to do at the end of the week now.  This has made for a nice day and a half and has given us some time to get a little more ready for all the speaking we will be doing.

Today, we rented a 4×4 and set out on a 5 hour drive to Victoria Falls from Lusaka.  One of the things about Zambia is that the roads and infrastructure aren’t that great.  This was in full evidence today as we spent about 1.5 hours of this trip zig zagging through a majorly pot hole infested section of road.  I think we actually spent more time on the dirt that we did the road.  In fact, you could say that this section of road was more like a section of potholes with some road included here and there.  Of course, being the smallest guy in the car (which is unusual!) I had to sit in the back seat where the bumps were the worst.  I am beginning to learn that this place is much like New Jersey.  Lots of pot holes, there are a lot of circle interchanges and people drive on the wrong side of the road.

Victoria Falls is a pretty amazing place.  I’ll be posting pictures later this week but there is a reason its considered one of the seven wonders of the world.  At over 1700 meters wide (5600 feet), it makes Niagra Falls look like kitchen water faucet.

Tomorrow we take that crazy road back to Lusaka then drive four more hours to Ndola where we begin speaking to about 11 different groups in about five days.  It promises to be an amazing time…

Hopefully I’ll find more time to write later this week.  Now I need a nap.

I was thinking today during our service that I am so happy to be able to say that I love the church family that we are leaving behind for the next two weeks.  In fact, in a sense, The Well is coming with me because who I am is a result of all these people and I bring with me not only my passions but theirs as well.  They were such an encouragement this morning to me as I left. They were also such a blessing to Melanie as she’ll be home with the boys this week with her mom.  She mentioned to me that she doesn’t have enough time to hang out with all the people who told her they wanted to spend time together or even come over and help with the kids.  That’s good stuff if you ask me.

So, we’re now sitting here in JFK airport and our plane is delayed about an hour (not surprising).  But, it did allow us to watch Tiger Woods clinch the playoff in the US Open.  Of course, I am not sure we’ll be able to watch it or even see who wins tomorrow…

And, on the way up i was able to talk on the phone with Cole while Dale Earnhart, JR won his first race in about two years today.  That, was stinking cool!  (Que the “redneck” jokes here).

With that, I’m signing off till we land in London… don’t forget to check out Gary’s sermon from today.